Italian Justice Ministry to investigate Knox judge comments

Italy – Annamaria Cancellieri, Italy’s Minister of Justice has announced plans to investigate comments made by a judge in the Amanda Knox murder case. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), Cancellieri released a statement saying she asked the inspector general to provide a “preliminary assessment” of comments made to the Italian media.

Two Italian newspapers quoted the judge who read the recent guilty verdicts handed down to Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, Alessandro Nencini, as commenting on Sollecito’s decision not to testify and other aspects of the case.

An attorney for Sollecito, Luca Maori, said Monday that comments regarding the strategy of the defense could be used in shaping part of an appeal of the verdict to Italy’s high court.

Maori is quoted as stating, “This is not a vendetta because a judge handed down a verdict other than what we expected.”

Nencini denied providing a judgment on the defense’s legal strategy on Monday, and is quoted by news agency ANSA as stating, “If my words generated a misunderstanding about the absolute legitimacy of the choice of a defendant to make voluntary statements, I regret it.”